How To Throw A Classy Birthday Party For Your Loved Ones: Birthday Party Themes For Adults

Throwing a classy birthday party that all of your friends will love attending is so much fun, but can also sometimes feel like a challenging feat. After a few years of similar backyard barbeques or parents’ night outs, it’s time to spice things up a bit! 

Today we’re sharing some of our favorite birthday party ideas, each including spectacular birthday party themes for adults. From elegant birthday decorations to next-level dining ideas and festivities, there is a fun and classy adult-themed birthday celebration idea for your special birthday person. 

Art and Wine 

There are many different ways to take this theme. For the birthday person who loves quality time, give everyone a canvas and get painting! Some art and wine events work to paint the same image, but others simply hold space for guests to paint whatever their heart desires. If the birthday person has a specific taste in art, such as pop art, modern art, abstract, or realism, pair it with a wine that matches the same aesthetic. 

This blog from The Art League has already done the hard work for you. Each wine is paired with a specific painting that reflects the body and complexity of the wine, as well as food pairings. Partygoers will be impressed by the deep understanding and appreciation for a good glass of wine. 

We are also lucky to have Stephen Fishwick’s gallery in The Centre. His team has several options for live art that will blow your birthday person’s socks off!

Murder Mystery

Spend the evening taking on a character role and work toward solving the latest and greatest murder mystery. Send out character assignments in advance so that guests have time to commit to the entire experience, clothing, accessories, and all. Taking on a character is a fun way to interact with friends both old and new, and shakes up social dynamics in an exciting way. 

This website offers downloadable murder mystery party plot lines to help you get started. 

Drink Tasting

For the birthday person who loves wine or beer, scotch, or even craft sodas, spend the evening tasting the best of the best as a way to celebrate them! Any person with an affinity for wine will appreciate spending their birthday with those closest to them sipping on their favorite drink. 

Tasting events are also a great opportunity to dress up into nicer clothes than you might be used to wearing on a day-to-day basis. You can even create a dress code based on the alcohol of choice. For instance, if you’re going for a bourbon tasting evening, dress up in your best Kentucky-southern-fits and make the night an ode to the Bourbon Trail. Pair the evening with some bluegrass and folk music to tie the entire event together. 

Fondue Party

Not every party has to be alcohol-centric. Everyone loves a party with food, but fondue takes it up a notch! Reigning from the Swiss mountains, fondue is a fancy and fun event that involves dipping food into melted cheese and chocolates. Bring your appetite, because fondue can become a three or four course meal involving appetizers all the way through a chocolatey-rich dessert. 

If you’re looking to further this theme, make the whole event feel like a European après-skiing-esque event. Order apres-ski-themed cookies to use as fondue dipping food, decorate the venue to feel like a winter wonderland and ski-hut getaway, have a cozy fire going, pin some vintage skis onto the wall, and pour up some cozy winter cocktails. You’ll feel like you’re on vacation in the Swiss Alps in no time. 

Tea party

Call up your friends and put on your best afternoon high-tea outfits. This theme makes for a fun and relaxing afternoon of catching up with friends and laughing about old memories while sitting at a table of bite-size cakes, finger sandwiches, cookies, and delectable desserts and teas. 

Dress up the space with colorful flowers and paper lanterns, place some of your favorite candles around the table to create an intimate and cozy feel, and ditch the plastic utensils and plates for a classy vintage afternoon tea set of china plates, mugs, and decorative metal utensils. And if you don’t have any on hand, you can hit your local thrift stores for some mix-and-match tableware. Having a clean and crisp tablecloth and some flowers further elevates the mood, and your friends will feel absolutely pampered while they spend the afternoon celebrating you. 

Sports Team

This theme is rather self-explanatory and is perfect for the sports lover. Build from the color palette and location of their favorite team. For example, if they love the San Francisco Giants, create an atmosphere accented with black and orange decorations, and serve the food specific to the stadium—in this case, it’s Ghirardelli Sundaes, some crispy garlic fries, peanuts, and beer. Have a baseball game playing in the background, and encourage guests to wear their sports attire. 

James Bond 007

Party in style dressed to the nines for an evening of martinis, poker, and class. The backdrop for a James Bond-style party should include a crisp, clean, and aesthetically simple style of black, white, red, and maybe even gold. 

We recommend a venue that is sophisticated and luxurious, such as our show-stopping Crystal Ridge. Have the movie’s exciting playlist going in the background, and incorporate some of the most iconic scenes into your event decor so guests feel like they’ve been transported to the exciting world of the 007. 

Great Gatsby

The roaring ‘20s in Long Island New York are iconically and extravagantly displayed in F. Scott Fitzgerald’s classic book, The Great Gatsby. Go all out with flapper dresses, pinstriped suits and ties, and a bar fully stocked for a magical night that takes you back in time. Decorations should all be ‘20s-themed, with art deco shapes and patterns—from the invitations to the napkins to the table cloths, and the backdrops for photos. 

Make the night feel both elegant and opulent with little cupcakes that don’t skimp in flavor and decorations that go all out. A striking color theme is a great place to begin—opulent yellows, reds, blues, greens, pinks paired with subtle creams were standard at the time— and be sure to mix in some fun sparkly extras such as gold foil, metallic and black accents, or glittery balloons. 

We Are Here To Help

We hope that these ideas kickstart your party planning process and set it on the right path. It’s important to think about all the small details that go into the entire party because these small details are the extra bits that will be remembered for years to come. It’s the difference between a good party and a great one full of class and elegance. 

For more inspiration, check out our website. Our venues inspire the most festive and luxurious celebrations, and you can rent them out to host your celebrations. Of course, our talented team of event planners are also here to help you through every step of the party-planning process. We have years of experience bringing classy celebrations to life, so please use us as a helpful resource throughout your journey.